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I only meant there's lots of woodwork left.
I splurged on new good quality chisels and a sharpening set to replace the ones from harbor freight I started with. they were good enough to do minelli stocks that had only a little to do. When I'm done inletting, I think I'll splurge on a new set of files and rasps to do the but and the outside. At some point when my first retirement rolls around, I will likely make a habit of work like this.
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09-05-2021 12:48 PM
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Originally Posted by
ssgross
I splurged on new good quality chisels and a sharpening set to replace the ones from harbor freight I started with.
What brand did you go with?
I’m a big fan of the blue-handled Marples chisel. A classic “beginner set” that doesn’t ever really need to be upgraded haha.
I bet I have three sets rattling around here…I just can’t help buying them if I see them going cheap in an auction.
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Contributing Member
Originally Posted by
rcathey
What brand did you go with?
After reading a bunch of reviews on some woodworking forums, I bought VonHaus - they had a a regular flat chisel set and a carving chisel set. I bought both - total cost ~$90.I broke em out to start using them. I certainly didn't splurge top of the line, but good quality was a relative term I guess. Certainly a step up from my harbor freight palm chisels. The edges we at least even, whereas the harbor freight ones had nicks all, and some broken corners. The new ones had burrs on most of the edges, but sharpened right up with a few passes on the stone that came with the sets. No nicks, and nice sharp corners.
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I worked the vertical surfaces today, and the rear tip of the tang, until the action "dropped in". I then received the barrel channel sides, and the bed wherever there was contact. Now, the fun, delicate part begins....
All the edges around the receiver bottom were left rounded after their duplication, and the action was sitting on the rounded part just about everywhere. Took a few hours to get them all squared (except for the front bottom of the receiver...perpendicular to the barrel. it is the only edge supposed to be rounded). I pulled the original krag I have out of it's stock to use as a template.
Attachment 119933
With everything square, the action dropped in a bit more and I had contact on the rear sides of the tang, the vertical recoil area, and the corner at its base.
The rear action screw hole was not drilled all the way through, so I used the front one as an index to finish fitting the trigger gaurd. I had to relieve for an aft, and just a whisker on one side, to get it to comfortably bottom out. It goes in with no effort, but not too loose to wiggle. Perfect.
Attachment 119934
You can see the tap wrench with 1/4 drill bit in it. The rear hole was started maybe 1/3 or more through on both sides, but not all the way through...left small (like 9/64) , and just slightly off forward. Using the trigger gaurd as a guide, I finished it by hand so I could feel the bit "chase" the index hole.
Now, I dropped the action in, trigger gaurd, and stock-fitting t-handle screws. The rear one didn't want to start, but with the action held loose it started fine and pulled the tank down it. I think the hole will stretch a bit with the few hundred test fits I have left.
With the screws snug...the barrel point up maybe 1/2" off the stock at the muzzle. Not good. The action seems to teeter/totter just in front of the recoil area...but not leaving any black (yes, I had already rounded the corner around where the side-plate sear-pivot area). In other words, when I set the action in the stock. the tang is up. If I put the screws in, the rear part of the tang's sides make contact but nothing else. After a few hours, it was the "ledge" of the loading gate hinge area. Now I'm starting to teeter-totter on the flat bottom of the receiver, but that is a balancing act I think I no how to handle. My guess is the flat bottom is cut pretty high compared to the tang and the front ring portion of the receiver.
...lots of work left. Whats so frustrating is the lack of a reference point when every horizontal or vertical surface is off by up to 10 thousandths or more. I think the way forward is, with the action screws tigtened with contact around the tang sides (still no contact under the tang screw hole), I need lower the flat part of the receiver until I get uniform contact on the flat. Then, I need to lower the front part of the flat until the muzzle makes contact in it's bed. Lastly, I need to bed the underside of the trigger gaurd so it makes contact for and aft of the trigger.
Last edited by ssgross; 09-12-2021 at 09:39 PM.
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Contributing Member
My handgaurd came in the mail over the weekend from macon gunstocks. I hadn't expected it for a couple weeks, so plus 1 for them on that. Here it is, next to an original.
Attachment 120044
Looks like they dug it out with a spoon. Given a block of walnut I could have done that with chisels in an afternoon. I guess their definition of "semi inlet" and "requires fit and finish" are very different than every other place I've bought from. Oh well. I suppose my time if I did it this far from scratch is worth the 80 bucks + frustration of arguing with them over it and it'll have to do. No other sources of these at the present. Lesson learned. At least the walnut matches the stock. They also advertise a krag carbine stock. If this handgaurd is any indication...I'd hate to be the poor soul fitting one of those.
Example hand guard made for U.S.
Krag Jorgenson Carbine. Wood Only NO METAL. Semi inlet and will require fit and finish. Rivet holes are not drilled. Wiped down with mineral spirits and is not finished.
All semi-inlet products require final fitting to your action and final sanding and finish of exterior of stock. Semi-inlet products do require some knowledge of firearms and woodworking skills for installation.
Progress update...with the vertical surfaces in the main area done, I've been working on balancing. I finally have uniform contact on the receiver flat, but the rear of the tang is low to where, when screws are in, the barrel was up by 1/4" inch or so ( I think I said that already) I lowered the flat with a 1+1/4 chisel to maintain uniform contact, until contact at the receiver ring was made. The barrel is only off the muzzle by 1/8 inch now. Doing a bit of trigonometry, that requires the contact at the receiver ring to be reduced by .027 or so.
I made one non-critical mistake in the beginning...I'll save that for when I'm all done and decide if I'll fix it or not. I widened that little thin flap of wood that extends past the receiver ring ring to the left edge of the side plate just a little too much. I was paranoid about snapping it off when tapping the action in the beginning...so whenever I saw contact I relieved it. Well, the later iterations the contact was just from bumping on the way down. The gap is a little more than I would like. Might glue a sliver of wood inside to make it less noticable.
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Advisory Panel
Originally Posted by
ssgross
I'd hate to be the poor soul fitting one of those.
Been there, that was what I was talking about another time when I spoke of fitting a Krag carbine stock. Roughly routed in and that was it. It all worked out though.
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Thank You to browningautorifle For This Useful Post:
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So I've been doing more agonizing in my mind over chiseling and scraping, trying to figure out how the thing is "supposed" to bed. I have my original as a guide, but the balance of the new one is pretty far off. With screws tightened, I get good contact around the rear tang, including the bottom. The front screw area made contact. I had 75% contact along the receiver flat, and the muzzle poking up off its bed by 1/2" to start. I worked the flat, but never got it down all the way. Setting the action in the stock, all would be fine but pressing on the tang would point the muzzle up.
So I changed strategies. Instead of working the flat, I worked the receiver ring, using a hand clamp to clamp the action in the stock at the receiver ring. I worked it down at the ring this way until the front of the flat started to kiss wood. It balances much better now, and the muzzle still points up, but only 1/16-1/8 now. Progress!
After a couple more iterations at the ring and forward flat, I now get no more contact at the ring, or anywhere along the flat. But with the screws tightened, the muzzle makes full contact in its bed, and nowhere else along the channel. So, I'm thinking the only contact points are now the rear tang and the muzzle. I think I need to carefully relieve the muzzle, and then work it and the tang down until I get full contact again on most of the flat.
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Got it!! Wow. That was a beast. For a while there, seems like no matter what I did the muzzle pointed up about 1/8 or so. I then switched from screwing in and checking with inletting black to just setting the action in, and using just my meat hooks to press the action into the stock around the front screw. That showed I was "teeter-tottering" around the receiver ring. Funny, no inletting black was showing there But if I pressed down at the ring, and then tightened the font screw, muzzle beds perfectly. Well, not to hard to see now that the widest part of the receiver ring is quit high up. A couple scrapes just below the top of the wood and all is perfect.
Before calling it a night, I took a rat-tail file and cleaned out the trigger area. You can see in my initial picture of the stock it wasn't clean, and was off-center to the right. I opened it up to even, and rounded the corners, and trigger fits perfect now too.
Last edited by ssgross; 09-19-2021 at 11:19 PM.
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Thank You to ssgross For This Useful Post:
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Contributing Member
Some progress pics. Trigger inletting before and after.
Attachment 120192Attachment 120193
You can also see the notch for the bolt hand was originally square. It measured 40 thous. narrower on the new stock vs. my original, but it lined up perfectly on the front edge with the receiver, so I had to open it up on the rear side. I used a file to get it where I wanted, being careful not to touch the bottom, then a freshly sharpened chisel to square it all up. It's depth came quite a bit deeper than an original stock, about 1/8+ below the receiver. On an original stock, the bottom of the slot for the bolt handle is on ~45deg. downward slope (measured from the outside of the stock), matching bolt angle when closed, and the upper part of the slope is just a fingernail width below flush with the receiver. So, I took a freshly sharpened chisel, held at ~45 degrees, and tapped it down the corner, then scraped it out from the middle until my corner cut was no longer visible, repeating half a dozen times until the bolt closed with no contact to the wood. You can see the flat part at the top caused by how low the slot was initially cut by the maker.
On to the butt...here is where it started.
Attachment 120194
First I made a pass with a coping saw to remove most of the excess. Then I used chisel and mallet to get all but the very last bit, being careful to leave a bit so I can use perimeter as a reference later.
Attachment 120195Attachment 120196
So, here is what I'm up against if I want to duplicate the original design.
Attachment 120197
I'm tempted to just cut out the middle part so the door opens...but I like to hide letters to my kids inside the butts of all the rifles I do for them to discover when I'm long gone.
The cleaning rod holes are deep...they go all the way to the bottom of the wrist, just below the front edge of the comb. I'm thinking the best way to duplicate the original is to carefully square the butt, then use the plunging base on my router with an appropriate sized bit to start all the holes nice and square, then finish the that gives the "channel" at the bottom of the top hole, then the cleaning rod holes, then use spade bit to finish drilling the two large holes...and lastly of course cut in the space between bottom channel of the top whole. Unless someone has an easier way to do it right...I'll need to disassemble my router out of its table, and find its plunge base in a box somewhere in the attic I think.
Last edited by ssgross; 09-19-2021 at 11:21 PM.
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Legacy Member
If you have, or have access to a floor model drill press, clamp the stock vertically and use a correct size Forstner bit to drill the large holes. The drill will start on a curved surface and will result in a clean flat bottomed hole.
Bill
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